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Digital Foundry Direct Special: The Best Game Graphics of the Year 2023

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I might try Avatar on Ubi plus, for those that played it is the game really bad?

I feel like the reviews have been mixed
Its not a bad game. Just not goty material.

Go in expecting a mediocre game with stunning visuals and you won’t be disappointed.

They fucked up making it first person and then fuvked up again making cutscenes first person. Avatar is supposed to be cinematic and heavily story driven. This is more like crysis and while that immersive approach has some positives, it just doesn’t work when you can’ have zero attachment to the main characters.
 

Senua

Gold Member
Have you played all 10 games in the list?

Weird stance lol.

They plainly state in the video that the new cloud rendering is the only key technical enhancement over the base game.
Yea.

Burning Shores looks really nice, but it's still basically an almost two year old cross gen game, and it shows.
 

Zathalus

Member
So you haven't played it.
Of course I have played it. It looks identical to the base game with a really good new volumetric cloud system that really makes flying and the skybox look way better. Down on the ground things are about the same though. Characters, textures, foliage, resolution, and GI haven't changed at all. The scale of the final boss is more impressive as well.

Cyberpunk 2077 PT on the other hand simply has a far bigger change in graphical fidelity. Lightning, reflections, material quality, basically the entire rendering pipeline has been affected.

I just find it funny that you would sing the praises of a game from a previous year while laughing at DF for doing the same thing.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
I have the PC version of the winners(ignorance is bliss)

He mentioned clouds being what's new.

Try harder


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You're complaining about the lack of inclusion of an older game where the new cloud rendering is the (only new) key advancement.

Versus a game that got a complete path traced rendering pipeline visual overhaul(and still didn't come #1 mind you).
 
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S0ULZB0URNE

Member
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You're complaining about the lack of inclusion of an older game where the new cloud rendering is the (only new) key advancement.

Versus a game that got a complete path traced rendering pipeline visual overhaul(and still didn't come #1 mind you).
DF as a source? Keep trying.
Avatar does not look better than it and when all places give out there awards we can remember this convo.
Of course I have played it. It looks identical to the base game with a really good new volumetric cloud system that really makes flying and the skybox look way better. Down on the ground things are about the same though. Characters, textures, foliage, resolution, and GI haven't changed at all. The scale of the final boss is more impressive as well.

Cyberpunk 2077 PT on the other hand simply has a far bigger change in graphical fidelity. Lightning, reflections, material quality, basically the entire rendering pipeline has been affected.

I just find it funny that you would sing the praises of a game from a previous year while laughing at DF for doing the same thing.
See above Avatar doesn't look better.

Not getting into CP besides it being a predictable pick with there history speaking for itself.
 
Seems like a reasonable list. There will always be a couple of these that you scratch your head about a bit, but art is very subjective.

Both AW2 and Avatar are both really impressive, no surprise from me in seeing them up there.
 

midnightAI

Member
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You're complaining about the lack of inclusion of an older game where the new cloud rendering is the (only new) key advancement.

Versus a game that got a complete path traced rendering pipeline visual overhaul(and still didn't come #1 mind you).
And? was the DLC released in 2023? thats all that should matter rather than we cant include it because it doesnt feature path tracing, they are making up the rules as they go along. Either include DLC or dont but dont make up rules as to why one should be included and one shouldnt (the final boss alone in Burning Shores couldnt be done in the original game so its not just cloud rendering)
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
And? was the DLC released in 2023? thats all that should matter rather than we cant include it because it doesnt feature path tracing, they are making up the rules as they go along. Either include DLC or dont but dont make up rules as to why one should be included and one shouldnt (the final boss alone in Burning Shores couldnt be done in the original game so its not just cloud rendering)

What does 'making up as they go along' even mean, it has nothing to do with it just being DLC, they state in the video that they don't think it did enough over the base game to warrant more than an honorable mention.

It's really easy to not give it any traction if you disagree with it. They're not the international gaming authority, it's their subjective video.
 

Zathalus

Member
The whole point of my posts are they can't be taken serious 🤷 this will be more evident when all places awards are given and the spins will be....

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Serious question, what places? Am I missing a number of sites that make a best looking game of the year awards somewhere?
 

midnightAI

Member
They're not the international gaming authority, it's their subjective video.
Well every awards video is subjective, and 'I' find it hard to agree with their decision to not include Burning Shores but include Cyberpunk. Its VERY simple, either include DLC or don't include DLC. They needlessly complicated it by having subjective criteria as to why it should be included or not (and the cynic in me says they didn't want Horizon to win it two years in a row).

This is best game graphics of 2023, if its released in 2023 it should be included regardless of whether that's a new game or DLC in my opinion, but I'd understand it if it didnt include DLC. Still doesn't change the fact that in my subjective opinion Burning Shores, a DLC, is a better looking game than their number 1 game for this year, just proves how damn good looking Horizon: Forbidden West was in the first place.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Serious question, what places? Am I missing a number of sites that make a best looking game of the year awards somewhere?
I don't think any/many are doing it. Gamespot / IGN didn't have best graphics categories this year.

The only one that I have seen is Nextlander's podcast (they're not a website) and they gave it to Alan Wake 2.

Well every awards video is subjective, and 'I' find it hard to agree with their decision to not include Burning Shores but include Cyberpunk. Its VERY simple, either include DLC or don't include DLC. They needlessly complicated it by having subjective criteria as to why it should be included or not (and the cynic in me says they didn't want Horizon to win it two years in a row).

The only reason they included 2077 again this year is because of the radical overhaul the entire package got, not because of Phantom Liberty 'the DLC' coming out.

Other than the clouds, Horizon doesn't do any improvements like a new/better lighting engine for the game, improved textures/assets/rendering solution over the base game.
 
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midnightAI

Member
The only reason they included 2077 again this year is because of the radical overhaul the entire package got, not because of Phantom Liberty 'the DLC' coming out.

Other than the clouds, Horizon doesn't do any improvements like a new/better lighting engine for the game, improved textures/assets/rendering solution over the base game.
Does that matter though? I mean, its their criteria, they can do whatever they like, but to me its simple, include DLC or don't include DLC.

And, yes, other than clouds, its pushing way more polys and particles than it did previously due to it being designed for PS5 only (the final boss could not run on the original game due to it having to run on PS4, that boss is more impressive than their cloud rendering)
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Does that matter though? I mean, its their criteria, they can do whatever they like, but to me its simple, include DLC or don't include DLC.

You keep bringing up 'include DLC or not', they did, it was part of their honorable mentions. And you've already said that you think they didn't want it to win two years in a row, so you wouldn't have been satisfied even if it was their number two or three pick. 🤷‍♂️
 
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midnightAI

Member
You keep bringing up 'include DLC or not', they did, it was part of their honorable mentions. And you've already said that you think they didn't want it to win two years in a row, so you wouldn't have been satisfied even if it was their number two or three pick. 🤷‍♂️
No, my argument is that if they aren't including DLC in their top 10 (and only giving them honourable mentions) then Cyberpunk shouldn't be there either. Either include both (they are both top notch games graphically and both were released this year) or include neither.

(the two years in a row thing was me being cynical as I said, it shouldn't be a real reason)
 
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SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
And? was the DLC released in 2023? thats all that should matter rather than we cant include it because it doesnt feature path tracing, they are making up the rules as they go along. Either include DLC or dont but dont make up rules as to why one should be included and one shouldnt (the final boss alone in Burning Shores couldnt be done in the original game so its not just cloud rendering)
yep. neither game should be included. they even said that the asset quality looks last gen compared to other games on their list and then decided to ignore it and put it at number 3 anyway.

a 3 year old game getting a lighting pass that doesnt even make a massive difference the vast majority of time as ive shown on this board numerous times should not be on this list.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
I have put over 60 hours into it so far, and i like it a lot. It also has MC in the 70's, its hardly a badly reviewed game.

I am a big fan of Ubisoft and their ipen world formula though so maybe i'm a little biased. I still think its a good game.
i dont like ubisofts games. i think the last one i truly liked was AC Origin, before that AC Unity and before that Far Cry 3 litearlly 11 years ago.

I am enjoying this way more than I thought it would. Its not as good as those games above, but I love being in this world. I love simply hunting for food and exploring without opening the map every five minutes. I wish the combat was better and more rewarding, but the game has a very rdr2 like tranquil feeling to it when you're in it.

its a shame that their ridiculous decision to make it first person made everyone immediately think far cry when its anything but. had they made it third person, it wouldve immediately invited rdr2 comparisons.

I feel like this is one of those 7/10 games like Days Gone and AC Unity that will ultimately garner a cult following.
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Is Alex right about Remedy using virtualized geometry in their pipeline? Can anyone here confirm that?

Can you time stamp which segment you're talking about? In the AW2 segment, he talked about their 'new geometry pipeline', which I think is just Mesh Shaders.

The majority of places that give awards. Most should be available by sometime in January and the DICE awards sometime in 2024.

DICE gave the best technical achievement award to Elden Rings in 2022/23, over games like Forbidden West and Ragnarok, do you agree with that?
 
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S0ULZB0URNE

Member
Can you time stamp which segment you're talking about? In the AW2 segment, he talked about their 'new geometry pipeline', which I think is just Mesh Shaders.



DICE gave the best technical achievement award to Elden Rings in 2022/23, over games like Forbidden West and Ragnarok, do you agree with that?
Yes I do and they weren't the only ones who did.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Yes I do and they weren't the only ones who did.

In that case, I have no idea what your beef here is with this video, other than an ideological one with Alex and his PC-focus.

You're complaining why Forbidden West isn't in the top spots, when it lost to Elden Rings last year, a cross-gen game which quite frankly is still nowhere near good playable frame rates unless you have a VRR display. Why would you assume FW's DLC with its new cloud tech only, will do better, at DICE?

Where else did Elden Ring win best technical awards? GDC gave it to GoW: Ragnarok, for example.
 
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S0ULZB0URNE

Member
In that case, I have no idea what your beef here is with this video, other than an ideological one with Alex and his PC-focus.

You're complaining why Forbidden West isn't in the top spots, when it lost to Elden Rings last year, a cross-gen game which quite frankly is still nowhere near good playable frame rates unless you have a VRR display. Why would you assume FW's DLC with its new cloud tech only, will do better, at DICE?

Where else did Elden Ring win best technical awards? GDC gave it to GoW: Ragnarok, for example.
Translation: you don't agree and now are mentioning performance as a metric.

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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Translation: you don't agree and now are mentioning performance as a metric.

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I'm just confused what you're even upset at here lol. You say DF as a source can't be trusted, but they gave the best graphics award to Horizon last year. So that can't be trusted as well, I guess? But then you also wanted them to add Horizon this year ?

Other than DF, only Dice and GDC are the prominent awards which have best tech categories, outside of obscure websites that no one may have heard of. So we're gonna be waiting for at least a couple of more months to see if they vote the same as DF this year or not.
 
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JCreasy

Member
Can you time stamp which segment you're talking about? In the AW2 segment, he talked about their 'new geometry pipeline', which I think is just Mesh Shaders.

Yes, that part.

At 1:07:11, John says, “It kind of their take on Nanite, basically, right? It’s kind of like micro geometry.” And Alex says, “Yeah, yeah!” He goes on explain that it’s “very small geometric detail that’s called away so you can keep it on screen without having to LOD as often.”
 

RPS37

Member
Its not a bad game. Just not goty material.

Go in expecting a mediocre game with stunning visuals and you won’t be disappointed.

They fucked up making it first person and then fuvked up again making cutscenes first person. Avatar is supposed to be cinematic and heavily story driven. This is more like crysis and while that immersive approach has some positives, it just doesn’t work when you can’ have zero attachment to the main characters.
I see your point now.
 

Beechos

Member
Maybe it was just me but I found ff16 to be really mid graphically. Only the cinematic boss fights and particle effects were impressive.
 

Beechos

Member
Immortals of Aveum not getting even a mention is sad, that game has so Incredible details
I didn't know what to expect out of this game. I got it for $10 on gamepass and it plays like doom with sorcery instead so far. Graphics I thought were alright I think the art style has more to do with it not getting any mentions.
 
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